The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1887-12-09
THE WATERS OF MARAII.

And when they came to Marah, they could
not drink of the waters of Marah, for they
were bitter; therefore the name of it was call
ed Marah de, bitterness). And the people
mulmured against Moses, saying, ''what shall
we drink?'' And he cried unto the Lord and
the Lord showed him tree, which when he
had cast into the waters, the waters were made
sweet.-Exod. XIV: %, "a, %.
''The Lord showed him a tree" Greek,
shoaoed lin GOOD 1t is clear that the
Lord by some special monition or sugges-
ton indicated to Moses a peculiar kind OF
tree or wood, which when thrown into the
water rendered it sweet and fit for use.
There is no doubt that certain species OF
vegetable productions have this corrective
property, and that they have often been
employed for this purpose. A modern
traveller in South America speaks of shrub
called AlumJre a branch Of which put
into the muddy stream of the Magdalena,
precipitated the mud and earth, leaving
the water sweet and clear. The first dis
coverers of the Floridas are said to have
corrected the stagnant and fetid waters they
found there, by intusing into it branches
of Sassafras and it is understood that the
first use of tea among the Chinese, was to
correct the waters Of their ponds and rivers.
Notes in Loco.
Well waters sometimes contain vegeta-
BILE substances of a peculiar kind, which
rardar tban, IN N, n nj oOop,a avon ouor la roa
tracts of country. When boiled, the or
ganic matter coagulates, and when the
water cools separates in flocks, leaving the
water wholesome, and nearly free from
taste or smell. The same publication
takes place when the water is filtered
through charcoal, or when chips of oak
wood are put into it. Such is the charac-
ter of the waters in common use in the
Landes of the Girounde around Bordeaux
and in many other sandy districts. The
waters of rivers, and of marshy and
coagulable substance. Hence the waters
of the Seine at Paris are clarified by intro
ducing morsel of alum, and the river and
marshy waters of India by the use Of the
nuts of the strycAnos potatorum, of which
travellers often carry supply. One or
two of these nuts, rubbed to powder on
the side of the earthen vessel into which
the water is to be poured, soon causes the
impurities to subside. In Egypt the mud
dy water of the Nile is clarified by rubbing
bitter almonds on the sides of water-ves-
sells in the same way. In all these in
stances the principle of the Qualification is
the same. The albuminous matter is CO.
agulated by what is added and carries
them down along with it. These cases,
and especially that of the sandy Landes of
Bordeaux, and elsewhere, throw an inter-
esting light upon the history of the waters
of Marah as given in the 18th chapter OF
Exodus Chemistry Of Common Life.
In India, water is often brackish in the
neighborhood of salt-pans, or the sea; and
the natives correct it by throwing into it
the wood called 'perrer-nelli." Should
the water be very bad, they line the well
with planks cut out of this tree. In swami
by grounds, or where there has not been
rain for long time, the water is often
muddy, and very unwholesome. But
providence has again been bountified by
giving to the people the ''teata maram. y
Those who live in the neighborhood OF
such water, or who have to travel where it
is, always carry a supply of the nuts of
this tree. They grind one or two OF them
on the side of an earthen vessel; the water
is then poured in, and the impurities soon
subside. Orient Htast.
Rev. II. II. Milman says: Some water
from the fountain called Marah has been
brought to England, and has been analyz-
ed" He then adds the subjoined state
ment: ''The water has slightly astrin-
gent bitterish taste, Chemical examination
shows that these qualities are derived from
the selenite or sulphats of lime which it
holds in solution, and which Is said to
abound in the neighborhood. If, there
fore, any vegetable substance containing
oxalic acid (of which there are several in
stances) were thrown into it, the lime
would speedily be precipitated, and the
beverage rendered agreeable and whole
some.',' From the above facts, it seems
the purifying of the waters of Marah, sup
posed by many to be a miracle, was only
the result Of natural laws. We can there
fore only infer that the discovery of this
tree to Moses was miraculous, for, ''the
Lord showed him tree" X.
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